The Butterfly

The road to hell is paved with good intentions or greed, take your pick with this film.

Bruce Lee had started work on Game of Death when he paused it to make Enter the Dragon. Lee died before being able to come back to Game of Death. This movie used 11 minutes that he had filmed previously and added an abysmal story around those minutes using body doubles and clips from other movies.

The story employed for this movie was that actor “Bobby” and his singer girlfriend were being targeted by gangsters to sign with them. “Bobby” ended up faking his death because he kept getting beaten up and later when his girlfriend was kidnapped went on a rampage against the bad guys.

I cannot express in words how awful this spliced together piece was. They used Bruce Lee’s reaction shots from other movies-one an outdoor reaction shot while they were inside, a cardboard cutout of Bruce's face pasted over a double's body, clips from his movies and two doubles who wore sunglasses who didn’t look like him and weren’t even built like him. The fights were slow and poorly choreographed with lots of backflips. Sammo Hung choreographed the fight scenes and it was like he’d never seen a Bruce Lee movie. The story was heavy handed and barely made sense. Worst of all, they used scenes from Bruce Lee’s real funeral and pictures of him in his coffin in this theatrical abomination. The creators of this movie said they were trying to honor Bruce Lee and see that his film was completed, by exploiting his funeral images, that argument went right out the window for me.

The only part of this movie worth watching is near the end for 11 minutes when the real Bruce Lee battled two antagonists, one of whom was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar*. This 11 minutes is noteworthy for the quality of the fights and his iconic yellow and black tracksuit which has been used in other movies paying homage such as Kill Bill. The fight with 7’2” (218.44 cm) Abdul-Jabbar has also been immortalized. In the movie Bruce was planning, he would have to go through 5 levels of a pagoda fighting against different masters of different styles, exposing their weaknesses and show how his system was superior. What remained at the time were these two fights which were spectacular. No wires, no flipping around, just amazing fluid lightning-fast moves. The rest of the movie was exposed for its fraud and ineptness with these two fights. Bruce always had to try and slow his moves down for the camera and still his moves were often too fast for the human eye. The rest of the movie’s fights which were plodding had to be sped up at times.

A 10 for the two true Bruce Lee scenes, -500 for this ridiculous attempt to capitalize on those scenes and for using his funeral images for their own putrid gain. There’s a reason Chuck Norris and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would have nothing to do with this movie fearing it was exploitive. Better to check out Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey from 2000 which contains more recently discovered clips from Bruce Lee’s version of Game of Death and his outline for that film. I could highly recommend that documentary, but not this movie. This Game of Death is only for Bruce Lee movie completionists with a high pain threshold.





*For those not familiar with him, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American basketball player, one of the greatest, who dominated the league for years with his legendary Skyhook. Kareem was Bruce Lee's student and friend. He is also a civil rights activist, author, and philanthropist among other things.

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It’s only 80 km long but a lot happens here!

Mr. Thank You is a charming movie that while at times was lighthearted and comic was also not afraid to highlight the social and economic problems of the time.

Mr. Thank You drove a bus serving a rural mountainous area, on the 80 km road linking the rural area to a train station where people could travel further to Tokyo. Most travelers on the narrow, dangerous road were on foot. As he honked his horn asking them to move over, he always yelled “thank you” in a cheerful manner as the pedestrians made room for the bus, hence his nickname from the locals.

Most of the story took place on the bus which showcased a generally genial cross-reference of people from the region during The Depression. On the surface the passengers were friendly and happy. Dig a little deeper and the effects of the times became all too present. A seventeen-year-old girl was being taken by her mother to Tokyo to be sold into prostitution to help the family. Other people on the bus had experienced serious financial setbacks. Along the way people talked, sang, drank, ate, and smoked. Mr. Thank You treated everyone equally and affably, offering to carry messages, visit gravesites, and purchase records for those who asked.

Most of the passengers weren’t afforded much time for character development, but each made the most of the time offered. The small gathering of people on the road trip revealed layers of themselves and for the most part kindness and generosity toward each other.

Given the era, one scene in particular stood out to me as particularly moving. Mr. Thank You encountered a young Korean woman he had come to know who had worked on the road he drove on. He treated her with dignity and respect even though she was among the most marginalized people living in Japan at the time. Whether it was the writer or the director who found a way for that scene to slip through, it showed a subtle criticism of the government’s policies.

In addition to the subtle commentary on political and foreign policies, it was repeated many times how girls forced to go over the mountain to enter prostitution never came home. Boy children often became vagrants. The smiling characters were all too aware of the reality most of them were living in yet still willing to form temporary and perhaps longer-term relationships.

The music was perfect for a traveling story, just like Mr. Thank You, it was light and lively, keeping everything moving forward. Though faded by time, the black and white cinematography and choice of shots was stylish and creative. The scenery along the road gave a time capsule’s view of the area.

During this bumpy road trip, the viewer is treated to heartbreak, hope, kindness, and a little humor. It’s a film that will leave you feeling better, but also a little unsettled.

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Based on a short story by Kim Dong In, Potato tells the tragic story of Bok Nyeo, a young woman who is married off to an older aristocratic man. Kim Dong In who was living in Pyongyang was inspired to write this story when he witnessed the hard life of the people living in poverty around him.

Bok Nyeo found out in rude fashion that her new "aristocratic" husband was penniless and landless. He also refused to work and expected her to provide for him. The story follows her as she works odd jobs, begs, and even picks caterpillars off trees, all while rebuffing the advances of the men around her. Eventually, she is forced to go against her conscience and do things she would not have done before in order to stay alive and later to pay off her worthless husband's debts.

Potato is a grim look at what poverty can drive a person to do in order to survive. Unable to return to her poor farming family, unable to be rid of her husband, unable to pay off his crushing debt, with no support system and only a will to live Bok Nyeo's story was devastating to watch.

******Spoiler Below******



*****Spoiler******

I graded this movie down somewhat because I felt it was needlessly exploitive of her body, devotion, and sacrifice. In the end it implies she falls in love with the Chinese farmer demanding use of her body in repayment for her husband's debt and that's why she tries to murder him. The official synopsis would lead one to believe this is not how the book told this aspect of the story. Even though it sympathetically shows the detrimental effects of poverty and the vulnerability of women in a male dominated society, I had trouble accepting the oft used literary trope of a woman being sacrificed for the mistakes of others and the failings of society. Just my $.02

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Toho goes all in with marketing this Mothra movie to a young audience. There’s a plethora of rainbows, glitter, fluffy animals, and silly humor.

The three main human characters who are grade school age find a Furby-like creature, Gorgo, who appears at the same time as a ferocious water Kaiju, Dagahra. The Elias are back, good fairies Moll and Lora, and their trouble making sister Belvera.

The first half of the movie dragged for me, as the fairies and children took center stage fighting to see who would take custody of the furry little critter. Eventually, it’s revealed that a long-lost advanced civilization, Nilai Kanai, had polluted the waters and created Dagahra to feed on the pollution. The unfortunate by product were destructive starfish called Barums who destroyed life in the ocean. Eventually Dagahra turned on his creators and destroyed the once great city, going dormant until the pollution in the ocean roused him once again.

Lora, Moll, and Gorgo guide the children to where the city used to be and with Gorgo’s powers they travel beneath the ocean into the pyramid structure as it once again rises above the ocean. On their tails are two bumbling crooks guided by Belvera. It turns into a race to find the treasure which can stop the Dagahra who has taken his battle to land as well where he properly obliterates buildings. Mothra shows up to do battle with the Dagahra and the adventure finally swings into full motion.

For a 1997 children’s movie the special effects are fine. There are lots of lightning bolts, monster fights, and glittering rainbows. The miniatures were well made and Dagahra makes a menacing enough foe for the beautiful Kaiju. Mothra is granted new powers as well. The film’s score is rousing when it needs to be.

Rebirth of Mothra II may not be something most adults would enjoy, it would help to have younger children watching with you or to let the child inside you respond to a simple adventure story of developing friendship and redemption. Though it's post 1990, I did give it a small ratings bump as it was aimed for children and I wasn't its targeted audience.

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The Weight of Her is a short film from nearly 20 years ago that I stumbled across. I truly hope that attitudes have changed about girls and women and their appearances since this was made.

The story follows a slightly overweight high school girl who is constantly judged for her weight not only by other students but by the teachers as well. Her friend who took diet pills and lost weight was praised. She, however, was constantly criticized and told she'd never find a job or a man because she weighs over 50 kg.

The girls are weighed in class as the male teacher makes derogatory comments about them. At one point when a very overweight male teacher derides the FL for weighing too much she calls him on it. He tells her it doesn't matter how men look, women are the ones with the problem.

Fat shaming, shaming for double-eyelids, all appearance related bombs lodged at young women, destroying their self-esteem and causing them to do unhealthy things to try and be ultra-slim. Instead of building them up, and training them to be competent and confident, they are told their self-worth is in how they look and how much they weigh. The focus was never on teaching them to be healthy in body and mind, and to develop their skills so that they would be able to find a good job because they were qualified, not because they were thin and pretty.

I found this very difficult to watch because defining women by their looks and size is destructive and the society loses out on creative, intelligent people in the work force simply because they aren't attractive enough for the men who hire them.

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Floating City takes place over several decades culminating in the end of the British rule over Hong Kong. Based on a true story the film focuses on Bo Wah Chuen, a man of mixed races and cultures, never fully accepted by any of them. Despite his humble up-bringing he manages to rise in stature and power.

Born to a Chinese mother, with a Caucasian father, and adopted by a poor Tanka fishing family, the Brits name Bo "Half Breed" and the Chinese call him "Mixed". Though he carries a British passport he finds out that he's not really British either. The story begins near the end so we know he succeeds but we also know as movie viewers that the climb will not be an easy one. Much of his youth is faced with helping his family survive and dealing with tragedies as they come. With the help of a priest, he enters school though he is older than the other students. Education opens his eyes to other possibilities, and he rebels against his father and the fishing life he is supposed to inherit. He discovers that the way out of his barefoot poverty and at times perilous existence is to find a job with the Imperial East India Company which runs much of Hong Kong. As a Chinese man his route is not without challenges, his inability to speak English has to be overcome and he's daily confronted by the limits of deeply ingrained racism.

Aaron Kwok gave a quiet performance as a conflicted man who was not sure who he is. Sometime too quiet. I found his character too enigmatic and unemotional in his relationships and struggles. Josie Ho who played Bo's mother in her younger years and Bau Hei Jing who played Bo's older mother both gave compelling performances as a woman who had to make heart-wrenching decisions through the decades for the family if it meant keeping them alive. Charlie Yeung as Bo's wife was given little to do. The heart of this story was between Bo and his tenaciously loyal adoptive mother.

Floating City flies over the complex issues giving us a nice overview of the problems in Hong Kong, but without connecting us emotionally with the tumult and cultural conflicts inherent in a place, and man, caught between two powers. It hints at a depth it is unwilling to dive into only skimming the surface as many of the performances do.

I wanted to like Floating City more than I did. It revealed parts of Hong Kong history not always covered in cinema but at times felt more educational than entertaining. That's not to say there weren't some deeply touching moments in it, I just felt it missed some opportunities to connect more with the audience. If you enjoy family stories and rags to riches stories, this is a movie you might want to check out.

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A Thousand Years of Good Prayers crosses generational and cultural boundaries. All people need to feel heard and understood. Misunderstandings and silence can lead to separation. The daughter in this movie has lived in the United States without seeing her parents for twelve years. After she divorces, and after the death of her mother, her father comes to visit from China. What follows is an uncomfortable slice of life focusing on two people who barely know each other.

Yilung works at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. When her father comes to visit, she barely makes time to see him, rushing off to work and coming home late. The father doesn't tell her he loves her, but he goes out and buys a wok and cooks for her every night, shorthand for "I love you" in almost any language. During his daily walk to the park, he meets an older Iranian woman and they talk about their kids. In Chinese. In English. In Farsi. With no subtitles. Yet subtitles aren't needed as the parents love and concern for their children comes through in each word, making their conversations understandable to them and us.

The strain between father and daughter only tightens until a wall cracks and truths emerge. Healing doesn't come overnight as with any relationship. They begin to understand each other better, as do we.

This film is shot simply, with few sets. Each of the performances was natural as if we were watching real people face the days. Henry O's performance of a father trying to cross a generational barrier with his daughter and a language barrier with the people in town was sympathetic. The father could also be frustrating when he failed to realize his grown daughter had her own wants and needs when he wanted to find her a good husband so that she didn't fail twice. Faye Yu, for the most part, gave the difficult performance of a daughter avoiding her father, seemingly ungrateful, all the while holding in a secret that kept a great chasm between them.

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is slow and narrow in focus and definitely not for everyone. It is a simple, thoughtful film concentrating almost exclusively on two people and how presumptions and lack of communication brought them to a place in their lives where both felt lonely and hurt. If you like slice of life films, especially about families, this might be one to try.

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From Zero to, well, maybe a 4 or 5

Tai Chi Hero took up where Tai Chi Zero left off and promptly slid downhill from there. The gang was all back and added William Feng Shao Feng and Peter Stormare to try and shake things up a little.

Yang Lu Chan (Jayden Yuan) and Chen Yu Niang (Angelababy) were in the middle of their nuptials when her ne'er do well brother, Chen Zai Yang (William Feng), showed up spoiling the mood. Fang Zi Jing (Eddie Peng) who was soundly beaten in the previous movie returned plotting revenge with some help from Duke Fleming (Peter Stormare) of the British East India Company.

That set-up sounds boring and unfortunately for me, this movie lacked the zaniness of Tai Chi Zero. Grandmaster Chen Chang Xing's (Tony Leung Ka Fai) character was developed more while he worked things through with his estranged son. Tony Leung Ka Fai did his best as the master of martial arts who had to come to grips with the mistakes he made with his child. The two main characters, Lu Chan and Yu Niang were stuck in much the same place without any conflict which drained the energy out of their scenes. Poor Jayden, a real-life martial arts champion, was unable to convey more than one perplexed expression. Unsurprisingly, there was no chemistry between he and Angelababy. The film focused more on the Grandmaster and his estranged son, possibly out of necessity.

Tai Chi Hero lacked a definitive villain, Zi Jing wasn't sinister or competent enough or engaged in the story enough to be much of a threat. Eddie Peng wasn't able to overcome the caricature and corner his character had been written into.

The story spent time flashing back to try and build the characters' and story's background but in the present time there was no urgency or significant development. There was no high stakes battle at the end. In fact, the ending felt rushed, too easily wrapped up, and anti-climactic.

There weren't as many fights or as inspired fights this time around. Lu Chan was trained by his wife and father-in-law which was to set him up to become the super Tai Chi Master but was lackluster as a viewing experience. The one grand battle was sped up and blurred which always seems like a cheat in a martial arts movie with a real martial artist in it.

The steampunk, pop-ups, and comic book style wackiness were largely gone in this sequel. Tai Chi Zero wasn't empirically a good movie, but it was a fun movie. Tai Chi Hero took much of the fun out, tried to replace it with heart, which ended up feeling more like hot air. I'd still recommend it to people who watched the two previous movies, even though this one limped across the finish line.

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Green Dragon Inn is reminiscent of old westerns where the powerful landowner/mine owner has a no-good son who is finally apprehended by the law and is thrown in jail to be tried and hung. Minions with torches and six-shooters show up at the jail to bust the boss' son out. In this case the upright official carries a sword and instead of a jail makes it as far as the Green Dragon Inn with the local warlord's murdering son.

The righteous official upholding the law in this movie was played as stiffly and unemotionally as possibly by Yueh Hua, whose stony expression never changed. Fortunately, Lo Lieh swaggered onto the scene as an interested party, with a more compelling performance and kung fu. Polly Ling-Feng Shang-Kuan (yep, that's her whole stage name) popped in from time to time to shake things up with her sword and kung fu. This trusted trio bravely vowed to uphold the law in the face of overwhelming numbers.

With the exception of Polly's and Lo's, the fights felt overly staged at times, but were entertaining enough. The action was fairly non-stop. Oftentimes the story is overlooked, Green Dragon Inn's was simple but engrossing. This movie had a bad case of "run out of film" ending. If you watch a lot of martial arts movies, especially Shaw Brothers, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Green Dragon Inn had two problems that had nothing to do with the story or acting. In the version I watched the film had been ruthlessly cut to fit different screens. Much of the action, fighting and reaction shots were missing if they happened near the edges. This version was also dubbed. I'm pretty sure the same guy voiced all of the men's lines. As bad as dubbing is, in this situation, subbing would have been worse as the words would have been cutoff. I've seen movies where that happened and it was very frustrating. This movie is good enough with a famous enough cast to be remastered and restored to its former glory.

If you enjoy martial arts movies, especially from Taiwan, this is a good one to try. Even with the problems I mentioned, Green Dragon Inn was still a fun way to spend 90 minutes.

*As always, I grade these older niche movies on a curve.

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Two Buddhist monks wonder while they wander through beautiful landscapes and seedy back alleys, all of which are transformed into a temple in their minds.

The two monks may have traveled together, but their roads to the top of the mountain were slightly different. One monk, Poban, adhered to the rules, the other, Jisan (who had been kicked out) seemed to go out of his way to break them. In their duality of thought they were not that far apart, both were seeking to let go of attachments and find the real meaning in their faith and how that should be lived out in their lives. What was more important-prayers or action? Avoiding temptation or facing it head on? Being attached to the rules or breaking through them? From time to time their pasts and mistakes caught up with them, crashing through their thoughts, forcing them to deal with them and answer some of those questions. The conversations were dense with meaning and would take a third or fourth viewing for me to truly grasp the deeper elements.

Though years passed, it seemed ever winter in the landscape, cold, gray, and austere. This movie truly needs a loving hand to re-master it, saving it from the graininess of age. I'm sure the images were originally crisper and clearer.

Mandala isn't for everyone. It is slow, focusing narrowly on the two leads and their conversations regarding life and Buddhism. As Jisan said, "Attaining enlightenment is easy, putting it into practice is difficult." Forty years after the release of this film and countless world events since then, this message still found and resonated with me reminding me how timeless some films can be.

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A small neighborhood in Tokyo is turned upside down when two little boys take a vow of silence because they want a television set. Of course, that's not all that's going on with the adult neighbors. Each family unit is facing their own challenges whether retirement is nearing, or a father can't find a job, or when the gossip generated from the have and have nots tears at the fragile fabric of relationships held together by the traditional greeting of "good morning".

The focus of the story is two little boys who visit a neighbor's house to watch sumo wrestling on their TV. The neighbors are deemed unseemly, read different, and the boys are forbidden from visiting them anymore. When the boys hold their ground demanding a television the father tells them to be quiet and they decide to take a vow of silence.

The father is afraid that having a television in the house will breed idiocy by drowning out small talk which is the "lubricant" of society. The boys view small talk as idiocy. And around and round they go. The boys' vow of silence creates ripples of discord in the neighborhood when they neglect the customary "good morning" setting up another wave of gossip.

You can see in the English lessons and television, the creeping American influence and Western pressure on the families. The television is not the only problem, a neighbor who buys a washing machine is judged for spending money on a convenience. The shunned family with the television feels compelled to move. The movie not only displays a generational conflict, but a cultural conflict as well.

The small talk the adults value so dearly where love declarations are made through a banal conversation about the weather, also bury resentments, envy and fears. No one questions drinking as a means of escape, or cruel gossiping.

Good Morning was bolstered by the young actors' sweet performances in their silent war. A spare, gently comedic slice of life film, showcasing a cast of well-developed minor characters dealing with everyday problems and a changing world was quite entertaining.

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Connected was an emotional thriller from beginning to end. A remake of the US movie, Cellular, Connected put its own spin on the story.

Louis Koo plays an inept debt collector who doesn't spend enough time with his son due to his job. His sister and his son are taking a flight out of Hong Kong and Bob, yes Bob, HAS to be there to send the boy off so as not to disappoint his son one more time. Being a thriller, we already know his trip to the airport is going to have challenges. Barbie Hsu as Grace Wong, throws him the mother of all challenges. She has been kidnapped by unknown villains and managed to use her engineering skills to make a damaged phone work, at least work enough to make a random call. And her one phone call is to timid Bob racing to see his son. Bring in disgraced police officer Detective Fai, played by Nick Cheung and the band is set to find its way together.

Koo connected with his character and managed to show Bob's development from coward to reluctant hero. Cheung's performance sold an otherwise weakly drawn character. Sadly, Hsu had to make the most out of being a damsel in distress, she was brilliant and resourceful, but still in distress and desperate for Bob's help. Liu Ye was able to make the cartoonishly evil Big Bad entertaining. Motorola should have gotten a supporting role as much as the phones had loving closeups.

Connected started and ended strong, the middle had a couple of slow spots, but overall, the pacing and nerve-racking action stayed pretty consistent. As with a lot of movies of this nature there was a great deal of predictability unless it was your first thriller. It didn't take much to connect the dots, thankfully, the trip between each turning point, even when implausible, kept the story moving at least at 3G speed. And along the way Grace and Bob, who were unable to see each other as they talked, managed to connect emotionally as well, a difficult task when both were facing death over and over.

I found Connected to be entertaining with strong performances. My only complaint, other than a few unbelievable bits is that it ran too long. It's worth giving a try, you can always hang up on it if it's not your thing, I kept Grace and Bob on the line until their conversation was over.

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Kara Hui, Lau Kar Leung, Johnny Wang (as the villain of course!), and Hsiao Hou battle it out for a will with fists, swords, song, and dance!

The synopsis does not do Kara's character justice. Cheng Tai Nan married an elderly man and second brother in the Yu clan who had taken good care of her and her father. He had made the special request so that she could see to it that his will and property deed went to his brother Yu Jing Chuen (the amazing Lau Kar Leung) and not to his nefarious brother Yu Yun Wei (Johnny Wang). Her husband died soon after their marriage and Tai Nan took the deed to Jing Chuen and was prepared to help him defend this inheritance. Tai Nan had incredible martial arts skills and did not suffer fools lightly, always ready to put the beat down on disrespectful rascals-including her new grandnephew! She represented the old ways as she bumped heads with Hsiao Hou's character and the encroaching modern (cars in a Shaw Brothers movie!) elements and Western influences.

Kara Hui was the gem in this goofy kung fu comedy. Her skills and beauty took center stage until she was sidelined for the final fight. She also won the first ever Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress for this role!

Lau Kar Leung wrote, directed, and choreographed this film. It's no secret he's one of my favorites. His fights are always quick and creative. I could almost forgive him for keeping Kara out of the final fight because it meant a showdown between him and Johnny Wang.

Hsiao Hou's performance as Charlie Yu Tao, Jing Chuen's reckless and immature son could be wearing. While an acrobatic martial artist, his acting is usually over the top and devoid of any nuance.

Johnny Wang played the role he's played so many times before, and yet always does a good job. Gordon Liu in a wig showed up as one of Charlie's friends. A long list of supporting and bit characters played by martial artists made my fangirl heart sing.

The sets were the best I've ever seen in a Shaw Brother's movie, none of the obviously cheaply made walls and windows for people to be thrown out of. People were thrown around, just on a higher class set.

For me, the movie ran about 30 minutes too long. There simply wasn't enough story to tell and some of the dance numbers/fights dragged on. Having a very young, great auntie and elder of the clan was a nice gimmick even if it was run into the ground at times.

My Young Auntie is a kung fu classic even if parts of it haven't held up well. For fans of Kara Hui or Lau Kar Leung it's worth watching.

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Zu Warriors boasted a heavy hitting cast, Ekin Cheng, Louis Koo, Sammo Hung, Zhang Zi Yi, and Cecilia Cheung. It was directed by Tsui Hark and had Yuen Woo Ping for the martial arts director. They obviously spent a ton of money on the constant CGI and SFX. Yet somehow, this fantasy martial arts film missed out on the one thing required of this type of movie---it should have been fun.

The acting was all serviceable. The problem is that there was no depth to the characters, no moment when we were able to see behind the frozen masks. Everyone was staid and emotionless making it very hard to care about any of them. Ekin Cheng's hair that magically blew in every scene had the most life of any character.

From beginning to end the CGI dominated the movie. Unfortunately, even for 2001, it wasn't very good. The cinematography was awful. The few sets that had any realism were also bad. Even the fight scenes, which did have some interesting moments were too often overpowered by the special effects. Very few scenes were not CGI enhanced which along with the unemotional acting made everything seem distant and cold.

The story had some good ideas and moments. Sadly, too often, it veered into an incoherent mess, seemingly unable to keep up with its own world building and mythology.

If a movie is going to take itself this seriously then it should be well thought out and give us characters to care about. Or it should have the decency to be so bad that it's good. Zu Warriors failed on both counts.

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Coming Home is a nuanced tale of love, forgiveness, guilt, and devotion. Gong Li and Chen Dao Ming give subtly emotional performances as the husband who returns home after being "re-educated" in a camp during the Cultural Revolution and the wife so traumatized by events that she no longer recognizes the man she has been waiting on for years.

The film focuses on the three characters of this tragic family. Gong Li gives a heartbreaking portrayal of a woman with uneven mental and emotional capabilities, trapped in the past, and hiding a jarring sacrifice. Once, a school teacher, Yu now can barely function in her small gray world. Zhang Hui Wen takes daughter Dan Dan's emotional journey from self-centered teenager with no memory of her father to a mature young woman in a believable manner. Anchoring the acting and this family, is Chen Dao Ming's father Lu. Burdened with the guilt of having been torn from his family and seeing the wreckage upon his return, he resolutely and gently works to reunite the fragile relationships. Dao Ming's performance is free from over-sentimentality slowly drawing us in with the strength of his craft.

The settings are bleak and gray, focusing all the energy and attention on the actors. The music while adequate, once again, does nothing to distract from the performances and the telling of this sad story.

There are no easy answers for the problems the characters face. Often the best they can hope for is bittersweet acceptance in their resounding displays of love and loyalty.

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